Leslie Hamilton is today announcing the findings of an independent report, commissioned by the General Medical Council (GMC), into how gross negligence manslaughter and culpable homicide are applied to medical practice.
A GP has been referred to the GMC for asking a Muslim women to lift her veil during a consultation. The Doctors’ Association UK, who have obtained a copy of the fitness to practise referral, are now calling on the GMC to issue urgent guidelines to help protect both doctors and patients.
Currently, there is plentiful guidance for doctors and NHS staff who wear religious garments, and when patients can ask a treating clinician to remove them. However, no such guidance exists for the opposite situation.
Dr Jenny Vaughan, DAUK’s Law and Policy officer writes for the BMJ about the case which has rocked medicine more than any other in recent times. Read her analysis as…
The Doctors’ Association UK attended a roundtable meeting at the House of Lords this morning to address the growing concerns about bullying and harassment in the NHS. The meeting was organised by the General Medical Council (GMC), hosted by Dr Philippa Whitford MP and was attended by key stakeholders including Royal Colleges, NHS Employers, NHS Improvement, the BMA, MPs and Peers. Our members were represented by our Chair Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, Vice-Chair Dr Rinesh Parmar who is leading our work on NHS bullying and undermining and our Law and Policy Lead Dr Jenny Vaughan. This meeting brought together various streams of our work including #NHSMeToo, #CompassionateCulture and #LearnNotBlame.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service has restored Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba to the medical register, read the full determination here.
Today, there is widespread relief amongst the medical profession. However, the verdict is no cause for celebration. At the heart of this case is a child, Jack Adcock, who tragically lost his life to sepsis. Our hearts go out to the Adcock family as they continue to grief for Jack. When a child dies it is our duty as doctors to do all we can to prevent the same tragedy from occurring again. We strongly feel that scapegoating an individual doctor or clinician for human errors made whilst whilst working under enormous pressure, does not serve this purpose. Instead, the criminalisation of medical error creates a culture of fear and blame, where clinicians feel afraid to speak up, afraid to reflect, and afraid to learn when things go wrong. Therefore we welcome the verdict of the Medical Tribunal Practitioners Service today, who, after considering all the system failures and the context in which Dr Bawa-Garba made errors, has found her safe to return to medical practice.
After month of campaigning by DAUK, the Health and Social Care Committee held an inquiry into gross negligence manslaughter. Dr Jenny Vaughan attended on behalf of DAUK. Read her report here.
